All right, well, let's just go ahead and do this.

Um I will call to order the September 25th, 2025 meeting of the Sacramento Metropolitan Air Quality Management District Board.

Um Selena, will you please call the role?

Chair Aquino?

Here.

Director Desmond?

Here.

Director Dickinson.

Director Guetta.

Director Hume.

Director Kennedy.

Director Lopez Taff.

Here.

Director Maple?

Here.

Director Robles?

Director Rodriguez.

Director Sander.

Director Sandu.

Director Cerna?

Here.

Director Vang.

We do not have quorum yet.

Okay.

We're missing one.

We're getting close, so we're going to move along.

If you'd all please rise and join me in the Pledge of Allegiance.

And to the Republic for which it stands.

One nation underground.

And we'll speak just as far as the question.

All right.

If you would please read the board announcements.

Members of the public are encouraged to observe the meeting in real time at Metro14 Live.

SACCounty.gov.

Participate in person via Zoom video or teleconference line and by submitting written comments to board clerk at airquality.org.

Comments will be delivered to the board of directors.

Public comments regarding matters under the jurisdiction of the board of directors will be acknowledged by the chairperson, distributed to the board of directors, and included in the record.

This meeting of the Sacramento Metropolitan Air Quality Management District is live and recorded with closed captioning.

It is cable cast on Metro Channel Metro Cable Channel 14, the local government affairs channel on Comcast and Direct TV Uverse Cable Systems.

Today's meeting will be played on Saturday, September 27, 2025 at 130 p.m.

on Metro Cable Channel 14.

Thank you very much.

That takes us to our consent calendar.

I don't believe we have any members of the public who want to speak on this item.

Do we have any questions from anybody on the consent calendar?

If not, we'll entertain a motion.

We have a motion and a second.

We do need to do a voice roll call because we do have two directors participating remotely.

Director Dickinson?

Director Geta.

Director Hume?

Aye.

Director Kennedy.

Director Lopez Taff.

Aye.

Director Maple?

Aye.

Director Robles?

Aye.

Director Rodriguez.

Director Sander.

Director Sandu?

Aye.

Director Cerna?

Director Vang?

Yes.

Consent passes.

Thank you.

And while we have a quorum, I'm gonna go ahead and skip 6.1 and go to 6.2 because that's our only other action item on today's agenda.

So if you'd call that item, please, Selena.

Yep.

Item 6.2, sustainable mobility in the capital region.

And I have Paul Philly in chambers to give a presentation.

Good morning, Paul.

Chair Aquino.

Oh, I'm supposed to do this, huh?

Okay, I got it.

Good morning.

Okay, there it goes.

Okay.

I'm Paul Philly, um Program Manager of Transportation and Climate Change here at the SAC Metro Air District.

And I'm giving a brief presentation on uh sustainable mobility in the capital region.

Next slide, please.

And one of the reasons why I'm doing this is because mobile sources are the largest form of emissions and pollution in the Sacramento Valley, and Health and Safety Code says that this district is the local agency with the primary responsibility for clean fuels programs and for motor vehicle use reduction measures.

And quite frankly, our staff is a very motivated mission-driven team, and they've told me that they want to be the most innovative team in the state.

And Moyer was invented here.

A lot of great programs started here and then spreads across the state.

So we want to continue that tradition.

So first, uh next slide, please.

A brief view back into the past.

So before the pandemic, next slide.

We had a lot of really fun, neat, exciting programs.

Uh some of you may remember uh when we had the second most used bike share system in the world right behind Paris.

We had automated vehicles running around SAC State.

We had point-to-point car share, smart ride, envoy via across the river, uh, and of course our community car share.

Uh so then a funny thing happened.

Uh next slide, please.

We had a big shift in the way that we live our lives, the way we travel, the way we hold our public meetings.

And next slide, please.

You know that a lot of those things aren't around anymore.

Pilots end, funding dries up, travel behaviors change.

And so what we do is we've had uh a shift in the way that we run our programs.

So if you go on to the next slide, we started to have our post pandemic uh investments in our region.

And some of these are air district driven, some of these aren't, because all of us have a hand in mobility.

Uh we have SACHRT Flex now, uh, which is based on that via model.

We've got a mobility hub in Del Paso Heights.

Uh the gold mine getting double tracked in low floored, is making it much more accessible to a lot of people.

Uh suburban class for bike lanes.

Uh, we've got e-bikes running around, and having a safe place for them to be, not on the sidewalk, I think is a good solution for a lot of people.

And of course, our Clean Cars for All program.

And uh just a reminder the federal tax credit ends on September 30th.

So if you're thinking about buying an e-vehicle, this is a very, very good time to do so.

Uh next slide, please.

So, given all the change that we've been going through, and and that is sort of what the purpose of this uh transportation and climate change division is to deal with the change and lead the change, is we want to reinforce and remind sort of what our principles are.

And one is to have a zero emission, safe and resilient system to get people to where they need to be.

We really want to be thoughtful about access for all, regardless of your income or your ability, and it's gotta work across the region.

So we have very urban parts, very rural parts, very suburban parts.

And the transportation solutions are gonna look different depending on where you are.

We also want to make sure that they're very flexible.

Um there could be another shockwave that changes the way we travel or work or do business.

And being able to be reactive and proactive to those changes is going to make sure that we remain fiscally sustainable.

And having all of us be part of it.

There's gonna have to be private sector investment, uh, public sector investment, and nonprofits.

Uh, we're all gonna have to work together to get us to a zero emission safe and resilient system.

Next slide, please.

So I wanna talk a little bit about one of the programs that did survive this transition, uh, sort of from pre-pandemic to post pandemic, and it's the R Community Car Share Program.

Uh some of you may remember it, uh, but it started back in 2017 uh out of a coffee shop where we ran into some people from SHRA and ARB.

And we wanted to create a car share system that was zero emission centered around affordable housing sites, so that we can make sure that people who don't have access to vehicles uh can have access to it, but also to make it so people didn't have to buy a car, so that they could uh reduce their emissions and live car light or car free.

And that was very successful program, and so we got additional funding from the state and expanded it into Del Paso Heights and into the unincorporated county, and we also wanted to find a way to keep it going without continuous large-scale uh investments from the state, and we started a cost share.

So instead of free, you're paying $4 an hour to use the vehicles.

And we also opened it up to the public because we have these vehicles and they're not used all the time by our members, and people who are paying $8 an hour are gonna help sustain and support those vehicles, and it creates a community asset.

And as we grew and grew the program, uh it became more and more valuable to people in the community.

Next slide, please.

So this is what our e vehicle miles traveled looks like since it started.

And as you can see, in one quarter, we got all the way up to 60,000 zero emission miles traveled in a single quarter.

And then the pandemic occurred, and it actually came back a lot faster than transit.

It was a mode that people were pretty comfortable with because you were by yourself, you were in a car.

Uh, and then once we started doing cost share, you noticed that the numbers came way down, and that makes sense because you're now expected to start paying for it, and that created a lot of capacity in our system.

So we then started working with our partners to find ways to make sure that these are more fiscally sustainable, but also available to others.

So we did a lot of changes to the program.

Next slide, please.

We went ahead and waived membership fees for low income individuals.

Um having access for all was a big part of what we wanted to do, and so we wanted people to have access to the vehicles when they needed it, and then they just paid for what they use.

We also gave people eight hours free to start with so that people were less apprehensive about trying it.

And then once they did that, uh, a lot of people found out the trips they needed the vehicles for and were able to keep it going.

We also started a representative program, and these are people who live in the community, and uh I'm free on a Tuesday, and I can take people to the grocery store wherever they need to go.

So people who didn't have a license because of age, income, or disability, could still be able to use the program and get to where they needed to go, and that also increased our accessibility and our ridership.

And that also increased our accessibility and our ridership.

And then we also partnered with Breath California, who's been part of the whole piece, but working on our eligibility screening, our training, our outreach, uh, to make sure that people know about the program, can sign up for the program, and people who didn't necessarily qualify for subsidies knew that there was this asset in their neighborhood that can help them live a car free or car light lifestyle.

Next slide, please.

So right now you can see that since we've made these changes, we've been getting a lot more response in our the number of miles that we have, in the number of hours driven, uh, our year over year is is up a lot.

And this quarter we're anticipating getting up to about 45,000 EVMT uh at the end of the quarter, which is very close to our peak, and that's having people pay to use the system.

So really trying to find a way to balance all of these pieces is I'm really grateful for our partners in getting us to where we are, and I'm looking forward to where we're going.

Next slide, please.

There's a lot of benefits to this program beyond air quality.

And one thing that we like about it is a lot of people are using this for essential travel, uh, but a lot of people aren't.

And and I like to say, you know, if I was to tell my abuela going to the dance hall twice a month wasn't an essential trip, she'd hit me with a spoon.

Um these are programs that are letting people go to the grocery store and get to their jobs and get to the medical appointments, but also get to the beach.

Uh we do have some longer range vehicles so that people can take trips that they couldn't otherwise, and they are doing it in a zero emission vehicle, which is really exciting.

Um we're also excited to have people who are not part of the subsidized system paying for the system so that we can have these in a lot more other places where the market couldn't normally do it.

And it allows people to forgo the expense of a car.

And finally, it gives people a taste and real experience with a zero emission vehicle.

So we do see that when we have an OCCS vehicle, we get more clean cars for all participants.

Because, well, I've now tried, you know, an electric key associate.

I know what the range is, I know it can meet my needs.

I'm a lot more comfortable taking part in other zero emission vehicle transition programs.

Next slide, please.

So here is what it looks like for opening up uh our system to not behind locked gates but out in the open.

And as you can see, Sacramento Valley Station uh has a lot of use uh from our members and a lot of use from our non-members, and that's to be expected because you've got a lot of people arriving on a train or other places, and we checked in with our members who lived by there.

In general, they book pretty well in advance.

I know I'm going to the doctor, I know I'm going to the dance hall, I know I'm going to these places.

Whereas the people who are outside the system are more I came off the train, oh, there's a car, I'll just grab it.

And so we're not really impacting people's access to the vehicles, but we're also generating a lot of revenue, as you can see.

Uh, our public revenue is twice as much as our uh subsidized members using it.

And so that's helping us extend the length of the program.

And the exciting thing, of course, is possibly October, but certainly by November, we're gonna have one million electric zero emission miles uh as a result of this program.

Next slide, please.

So next steps for this program is we're currently working with the city of Sacramento.

They received a um EV blueprint grant, uh which is expiring, I believe, at the end of this year.

And so we're working to make sure that infrastructure is installed for zip cars and our car share vehicles, and that we can continue to expand into those locations.

We're always looking to adjust the program to maximize air quality benefits.

So we're trying to open up more of these sites to be from behind the gate to being public sites so that they can be more useful to the community, and we're looking to leverage other clean mobility programs.

Um CCS is not going to be a solution to all your travel needs.

You still need to have good bus access, you still need to have bike access, and it but it helps on those trips where those projects just aren't fulfilling those needs.

And finally, uh, this is where you come in.

I need to extend some of our service contracts so that we can continue the program for as long as we have funding, which is through July of 27.

Next slide, please.

So this is the staff recommendation.

It's to give uh the executive director authority to extend the contract and raise the amount.

Uh this is currently covered by a state grant.

And I am open for any questions or that you may or comments that you may have.

Thank you, Paul.

So it's the program that maintains the insurance and the individual driver isn't required to have any insurance, is that correct?

The program takes care of insurance, fuel, electricity, everything.

All you have to do is come with your license and application, and then everything else is handled.

Interesting.

Okay.

Any questions for Paul?

We do have a one request for public comment, but I will start with questions from the board.

Director Hume.

Thank you, Chair.

Good morning, Paul.

Good morning.

This is a little bit in the weeds, but I'm just curious.

This is grant funded program through CARB.

And is CARB fully state funded or does it receive federal funds?

So the program is currently using multiple sources.

Okay.

Part of it is state funding, uh, which is from CARB.

Part of it is from SACOG, which is federal funds, and part of it is through the EV blueprint, which I think is CEC funds, uh Energy Commission funds.

Okay.

So it's interesting you brought up SACOG because that's really where I want to go with my line of questioning is we are considering uh sort of the uh the next uh phase of federal funding round.

And obviously there are several criteria upon which we will be judged safety lane miles.

One of them is emissions.

And the irony is is that gas tax revenue is used as a gauge towards emissions, but not in the way we would think in this room on this body.

It's actually held against us, so particularly in Sacramento County.

If we have less gas tax revenue, that will be seen as a negative.

And so need rises up, but gas tax gets used against us.

And so the more successful programs like this are, the less money we are able to draw down in order to repair the infrastructure that these vehicles need to drive on.

It's this like vicious self-fulfilling cycle uh spiral towards the bottom.

So I I have nothing necessarily to ask of you regarding that, other than we're gonna have to bridge this gap of how EVs pay into the system or how we start judging our transportation dollars uh relative to our needs in a way other than just using emissions as the benchmark.

Thank you, Chair.

Director Maple.

All right, thank you, Madam Chair.

I just really want to appreciate the the presentation.

It's great to see all of this.

You know, you know, all these independent pieces have been happening.

We've talked about them on this body, uh, but to see it all in one place and the impact that it's having is great.

I'll talk about this a little bit later in my AB 1234 report, but um recently did a trip uh through the air dress district to the Netherlands uh about smart mobility and a lot of these things are things that I talked about um in a presentation I gave there.

And and I think that there was a lot of interest from internationally about the work that we're doing here.

So I just really want to uplift that, how important this is, um, and especially coming in with different options.

Not everywhere is Amsterdam, where you've got public transit, you know, every seven minutes at everywhere you want to go.

Um and we have to create solutions here that work for us um in our region and our communities, and so I think this is a really creative way of doing that.

So just wanted to thank you for your work.

Thank you, Director.

Thank you.

Selena, um, let's go to public comment.

Yes, Chair.

We have Cameron Belton in chambers to give uh public comment.

Good morning, welcome.

Good morning.

Um, thank you for having me.

My name is Cameron Belton.

Um I've had the privilege of managing um the Green Tech Mobility Hub in Del Paso Heights for the last three years.

So I've been able to see the growth from construction all the way till now where we have members of the community constantly utilizing the services, especially the zip cars with OCCS.

Um, but we've also been able to use the mobility hub to also serve as like a teaching and training center as well.

Um as you guys may know, we do have um a few electric vehicles as well as um different types of EV chargers, which we use to talk to the community about just what this transition is going to look like.

Um switching from using gas vehicles to um zero emission vehicles is a large jump, especially as far as lifestyle changes.

Um of those changes is mainly including charging and understanding which chargers to use, how to look for chargers, um, and even how to maintenance some of those charging stations.

Um we've been able to train 16 to 24 year olds on just the importance of not just the lifestyle shifts, but the workforce development um and the workforce opportunities that could and will be available um in the foreseeable future.

Um so while doing that, um we've also found just by talking to the community and just sharing experiences personally.

Um we've been able to also find jobs and create jobs.

Um of the jobs in particular is just a service technician.

So now that we have our um mobility hub and we have our chargers installed and people are utilizing them, now we have the irregular or regular type nuances that come with owning and operating an electric vehicle charger.

And one of those is becoming like a service technician.

So we've actually started looking into not only having individuals who understand like the process and understand how to install, but we've also been able to kind of look on the back end and figure out that it's important to have people in our communities and just in our home state that can actually work on the chargers and service the uh like the IT type things and stuff like that.

So we've been able to have an impact on the community um work with uh Twin Rivers as well as um just other CBOs in the area to um help expand this growth.

Thank you for your work, Cameron.

Thank you for being here.

Vice Chair Maple has a question.

I just have a quick follow-up question.

Well, first of all, thank you for reminding me that I need to come out and visit and do a tour and learn a little bit more.

But my question is um Do you know approximately how many people have gone through your workforce training program?

Um at least 46.

Amazing.

Yes.

All right, thank you.

Well, I'll be reaching out soon.

Thank you.

Thank you very much.

All right, we have no other uh requests to speak from the public.

Any other questions or comments from my colleagues?

Otherwise, we will entertain.

I'll go ahead and move the recommended staff recommendation for approval.

What are the motion?

Okay.

Chair Aquino.

Aye.

Director Desmond.

Hi.

Director Dickinson.

Director Geta.

Director Hume.

Hi.

Director Kennedy.

And Director Lopez Taff.

Aye.

Director Maple.

Aye.

Director Robles?

Hi.

Director Rodriguez.

Hi.

Director Sander.

Hi.

Director Sandu?

Director Cerna?

Hi.

Director Vang?

Yes.

This item passes.

Thank you very much.

We will go back to item 6.1.

So item 6.1, lead and general aviation fuels, and we have Amy Robertson Chambers to give a presentation.

Good morning, Amy.

Good morning.

Wait just a second for the presentation to come up, but good morning, Chair Kino, members of the board.

I'm Amy Roberts.

I'm the division director for our engineering and compliance division here at the district.

Happy today to uh present information on lead and general aviation fuels.

Next slide, please.

You're all aware.

Aviation is a really important economic sector internationally, nationally, and locally.

I think it's estimated that it's a four trillion dollar economic driver worldwide, and it's a driver for jobs.

Um we all know that when you're combusting something with that much ubiquitous fuel going out the tailpipe that you're emitting something that we all need to pay attention to, and we need to um look for ways to find reductions for climate and air pollution reductions.

There are various government and industrial focused solutions that do try to limit the emission impact from the aviation sector.

Um these include looking at alternatives to aviation fuels like sustainable aviation fuels known as SAF, also looking for the use of hydrogen in aviation.

There's also efforts to electrify aircraft.

We've talked in these chambers uh many times in the past about that, those uh possibilities.

While electric and hydrogen, those are definitely uh in the nascent stages of development, um, they're still worthwhile goals for for us to look into and and look for those zero emission benefits that can be um that we can all benefit from outside of those efforts.

There are also efforts to replace leaded with unleaded fuel options for small aircraft, and that's the focus of today's uh presentation for you.

Next slide, please.

Aircraft and aviation fuels are regulated at the national level, and as a local air quality district, we do not have jurisdiction to set emission standards um for mobile sources like aircraft engines or fuels.

So why is this item before you today?

Well, first of all, at our core, we are a public health agency, and we like to say that as often as possible.

Our programs are always rooted in how we can improve air quality for our residents here locally.

If there are ways that we can support clean air and the clean energy transition, like transitions and cleaner technologies and fuels, well, just count us in.

Um, really importantly, our communities also care about exposure to different air pollutants such as lead and what can be done to reduce the impacts.

Next slide, please.

To that point, one of the most important ways that our district has been involved in and been able to really hear and understand what our communities care about or and are concerned about is through our interactions in the AB617 community air protection program.

A quick reminder, legislation was passed in 2017 at the state level.

It mandated the state select communities with high health burdens to air pollution and to come up with plans for either monitoring or emission reduction programs.

In our county, South Sacramento Florent community was selected as one of the first 10, and we have gone through monitoring plan successfully and are in the midst of developing an emission reduction plan.

Throughout our work with the community since 2018, they've shared their concerns related to mobile and stationary emissions.

And we've also heard about their concerns about possible exposures to lead in the neighborhoods of Bangham Park, near SAC Executive Airport.

And on the map on this slide, you'll see that the SAC Executive Airport is within the expanded boundaries, which were expanded in 2024.

It sits right on the edge of that western northwestern corner.

Next slide, please.

So because of our air quality mission, because of our work with the community and hearing their concerns, and because of other recent regulatory actions, other early actions we've heard being taken at other airports.

Our air pollution control officer asked us to take a deeper dive, look at the topic, and summarize in a white paper the status of lead and aviation fuels, focusing on SAC executive airport because of its location within our AB617 community.

This will really be able to help us guide our discussions, uh, guide our next steps and any actions that maybe can be taken locally and help uh inform ourselves and help inform all of you.

So I want to before I get into all of the topics you see on the slide related to the history, the regulations, early actions taken at airports, and some of the results of local lead monitoring.

I do want to acknowledge our staff at the district that did put this paper together.

I've got a couple of extra copies here if anybody wants a hard copy of it.

Um it's a really thorough and in-depth report that was put together.

So I want to acknowledge our team and our monitoring planning and rules division that included information in this report, and a member from my team, one of our uh senior uh engineers that put this together, Joanne Chan.

So again, I encourage you haven't had a chance to just uh go through it at some point after this presentation.

Next slide, please.

All right, so there's obviously a lot of interest in lead.

It's a highly toxic metal, and exposure can lead to some very significant health impacts to many of our systems and organs if we're exposed.

It's a neurotoxin, it can affect our brains, our nervous system, can cause anemia and blood pressure, high blood pressure, can damage our kidneys or our liver.

So there's just a lot of uh impacts from this particular pollutant.

Um, and exposure can be particularly dangerous as it goes with many air pollutants in children and particular, especially in early years of life.

If children are exposed, they that can result in behavioral learning and developmental disorders.

Pregnant women that might have been exposed to lead can also have that transfer to their um their babies in utero, which can impact their development later in life.

Both the federal government and the and California have established air quality standards related, uh, ambient air quality standards related to lead, and those are included on this slide here.

Next slide, please.

So lead contamination comes in a lot of forms, but it can be in our air, our soil, and our water.

It can mean exposure when we inhale those lead particles, whether we absorb it into our skin or if we happen to ingest it in the items that we eat or drink.

Some of the main sources of lead in the environment come from leaded fuel from small aircraft.

It's one of the largest remaining sources.

Also from other industrial sources where you might have battery cycling facilities, you might have metal smelting facilities.

Lead can also be found in soil when airborne lead particles do settle into that soil.

You can also have sources of uh gun ranges.

You can have lead paint that might chip from older homes.

I think it's a pre-1978 when there is a change in lead in paint, but nonetheless, we still have homes that do have lead paint that can chip, fall into the soil, and then be absorbed.

Um, another big source can be from our lead pipes.

Um, we do have water service lines that still have lead.

I know there's active measures nationwide and locally to reduce our pipes that still have lead in them.

Um, lead can also be ingested when we might inadvertently cook with products that contain lead, uh ceramics that might have a glaze that has lead containing contaminants.

We also may eat food products that again inadvertently might have picked up lead from the environment in the soils that they they make them.

The FDA does track and try to test for lead in imported goods, candies and spices, and those types of things.

Next slide, please.

All right, so now I'll narrow down into just looking at the ambient sources of lead and getting into some of that uh history.

So the EPA identified lead as one of the six criteria air pollutants.

So obviously they acknowledged uh its importance and need to reduce uh levels of lead.

Not only um is it known to be an air toxic um and bad for human health, it's also a contaminant to catalytic converters.

And that was back in the 70s, that was going to be the main technology that was uh going to reduce other air pollutants.

So it was really important for multiple reasons to get lead out of fuels and reduce its impact to our environment.

Leaded fuel for automobiles was the main source of lead contamination, and that was therefore targeted to be phased out.

Um the phase out campaign, it did take multiple decades to occur.

So it, you know, it wasn't an immediate transition, but that phase out did happen with the last leaded um fuel here in the United States.

I believe it was 1996 when that phase out finally happened.

I I often think about the pinto that my family drove and you know back in the 1970s and 80s, and you know, I'm sure that that was just leaded fuel that we were using all the time.

Um that campaign was uh very successful.

So 99% reduction has been demonstrated in just reducing the lead from our automobile fuel.

Uh, you can see on the graph that's included here.

This is a pretty typical uh you know a graph that's used because it is you know so drastic to see those levels.

Um it's looking at the lead fuel content at the lead content in automobile fuel, but they also track blood lead levels, and you can see how they pretty much just correlate and track downward.

Um so this is a very successful effort and a good demonstration of that in this graph.

So while this is great, this is a huge success.

There's still sources of lead, as I've I have mentioned in the environment.

And again, small aircraft uh and the leaded fuel that's still used in that aircraft is one of the main sources.

Next slide.

So to tackle this, one of the largest remaining sources in 2022, a coalition of federal and industry groups formed the Eagle program, and this stands for eliminate aviation gasoline leaded emissions.

This step was taken prior to the federal endangerment finding that happened in 2023 by the EPA.

And the endangerment finding really is the marker to the EPA saying this is harmful to public health.

Something needs to be done.

So while it is not a regulation, it does not impose any steps to phase out.

Uh, it is what tells other agencies that they need to take steps to uh reduce lead in and specifically in um aviation fuel.

So, as I said, no to date, no regulations are officially um to phase out leaded abgas.

It has been promulgated at the federal level, um, but the federal aviation authority has committed uh in the 2024 FAA reauthorization act to restrict the use of leaded fuel by the end of 2030.

It does preserve the use of leaded fuel at least um through the end of 2030 because there's just a lot of steps that will have to be gone through.

Um but here in California, almost exactly a year ago, uh California did pass SB 1193.

Um this is the first regulation in the nation that actually does put a target date on phasing out leaded fuel.

It does restrict and ban the use of sale of leaded fuel by January 1st of 2031.

And that that falls in line with the EPA uh endangerment finding, it falls in line with the Eagle program and the FAA signaling that they're going to reduce um access to leaded fuel in the future.

So all of these parts need to come together.

It's a tricky transition.

Um necessary emphasis by all agencies, but local, federal and state is on safety.

I think we can all agree that that's a of paramount concern to make sure that what fuel is being used in those aircraft is going to be safe.

It's going to provide um efficient use of that fuel.

So there's not going to be a drastic you can't use this fuel by 2031.

There are certain things that must be in place before that transition actually happens.

Amy, let me stop you for just a second, please.

Uh Vice Chair Maple has a question or comment, and then Director Cerna.

Thank you, Amy.

I guess my main question is have we done any kind of analysis or thought through how this might impact the Sacramento County Executive Airport?

Yes, and I will I will be getting into that one.

No problem at all.

But yes, uh we definitely have been um speaking with Department of Airports uh staff, and we also were on site uh with them to take a tour, really to understand the impacts um of these regulations, what can and can't be done because obviously we are not running an airport, we're running an air district, so we really needed to understand that.

That's great.

Thank you.

Yes.

Director Cerna.

Thank you, Chair.

Um I may preempt your presentation as well with my question, but uh and forgive me if you've already covered this, but the I believe the whole purpose for lead in the first place for ABGAS is to address uh early detonation.

That is correct.

So what and again, maybe it's in subsequent slides here, but what are we doing not only to um focus on implementation of uh both federal and state uh statutes to phase out lead and AVGA, but also to promote uh alternatives, and I don't even know what technically what those alternatives might be in terms of um uh the aging fleet of GA aircraft.

I mean today, uh most GA uh small GA aircraft, non-turbo jet um aircraft, uh you know, are um Session 172s and Piper Cubs that you know date back to the 60s when they were first manufactured.

So um uh are there um technologies that permit retrofit of those engines that find another solution to address early detonation so that they don't have to rely on um leaded fuels because to me this seems like kind of one of those perfect moments where we have both the responsibility to implement but at the same time uh promote alternatives.

So I I don't know if that again that uh is uh early intro to subsequent slides, but uh I'd be curious to know what what your thoughts are on that.

Thank you, Director Cerna.

Uh I will be touching on that a little bit um later on in the slide as far as what other airports around the nation have been doing.

So um what can be done to incentivize the use of unleaded fuel to your question about um is that a possibility basically, you know, lead is in that fuel for a very good reason.

It it is a safety and efficiency uh measure to add leaded fuel.

It's been in that fuel for you know over a hundred years.

So um it has to be a transition that's done.

Um there has to be testing, there has to be a safety uh certificate that each aircraft type goes through.

So the FAA does regulate um that and make sure that any aircraft running on an alternative fuel, such as unleaded fuel, goes through that process.

So there are steps at the national level and local level where they're going to make sure that those planes are flying safely.

Okay.

Does that include uh preemption of state law if we get to uh general one 2031 and there is no viable alternatives because for me this feels like this is not it doesn't feel the same way as the lead up to acceptance and dependence on EV private vehicles as an alternative to ice propelled vehicles where we've had plenty of that, plenty of lead time to to see the market shift.

And this is I mean, January 1 2031 is going to be here before we know it.

It just doesn't feel like I'm hearing a lot about uh what the the alternatives are that give the marketplace for GA small aircraft uh engine retrofit.

And that's why I'm uh I have this line of questioning.

Does it feel the same way as how we've promoted at the national, state, and local levels, uh again, kind of the acceptance of uh EVs and the extension of range and everything that's made it uh uh more popular uh in the marketplace.

I'll maybe address the latter part of your uh your comments that the ubiquitous of automobile um versus general aviation aircraft obviously is is vastly different in the and the focus of reducing mobile emissions uh that was obviously intentional to to focus on on the larger source of emissions as to the production and the options for unleaded fuel.

There are a couple of manufacturers that are actively engaged in um finding um or seeking certification, safety certification for multiple aircraft types.

You mentioned Cessna and others, and and they'll all need to have that.

Um so just recently um Swift Fuels, which is one of the manufacturers of one of the high octane unleaded fuels, um, did receive um ASTM, American Society of Um Standards and Materials, which is part of the process of getting to that um level of where they they can grant uh or it will support the use of unleaded fuel.

Right now, as you as you mentioned, there isn't a lot of availability.

Uh this is not um widely used at small general aviation airports.

I think Swift Fuels mentioned that they have their unleaded fuel available at five airports.

So this is a very small percentage.

So you are absolutely right.

This is a short turnaround to be able to switch to all general aviation aircraft.

So I it is an uphill, that's my opinion.

It does also appear to be a very um uphill um road ahead, um, but there are being steps being taken in manufacturers that are um trying to move that forward.

So is most of the activity in the space of uh fuel technologies, not necessarily engine technologies, or is there kind of simultaneous focus on both?

My understanding that it is uh on the fuel side, uh, but I I will reserve and and maybe um just have to seek information from others about uh the engine side of it, but my understanding is it's um really focused on the fuels.

So is it is it your opinion then that uh this might be one of those uh rare instances where we find ourselves, and I say we, I mean the broader uh air quality um advocacy space and even agency space at the local and state level where we find ourselves odd bedfellows with the likes of WISPA and other um representatives of the petroleum industry to help advance um maybe accelerate uh you know the the research and the RD that has to go into the availability of those alternative fuels.

I am not aware of any pushback from those associations uh at this point in time.

Um so that's another thing that we can also uh look into.

And I look forward to the rest of your presentation.

Thank you.

Okay.

All right, I think we already we already touched on um, but just to make sure that um on the latter part of that, the FAA uh reauthorization act, I mentioned that and then SB 1193 for that California date.

I think that's all to say on this slide.

So we can go on, Selena to the next slide.

All right.

So this slide really um is just to put into context some of the flight activity that's at SAC executive and how that translates into lead emissions coming from the airport.

Um the uh California Air Resources Board did do uh an inventory of um a um of airports, small um small airports, uh looking at emissions from the taxiing, uh, the the landings, and and just to see what that all meant.

And then I'll also we included a table here just so you could compare the SAC executive emissions are estimated to be about a half a ton per year coming from from their air activities.

And you can see that one of the the busiest in the nation is Van I's airport, and the lead emissions coming from SAC executive are about a third of the emissions coming from that particular airport.

Okay, okay.

Okay, next slide, please.

Okay.

Um outside of eliminating lead emission levels uh using flight activity and fuel fuel usage data, actual monitoring of ambient lead levels have been done in Sacramento over the years.

This data has been collected by the SAC Metro uh Air District team to show compliance with the federal and state standards at a monitoring station located in the Northern Sacramento region.

Um there have also been monitoring campaigns that were done within the AB 617 community area, both by SAC Metro Air District and by United Latinos.

The monitoring that United Latinos performed was specific to wanting to know about lead levels in the Mangum Park neighborhood that is directly next to the airport and the now closed gun range there.

I'll review the results of these various monitoring efforts on the next slide, but I did want to point out that these various efforts have variability in them, and that's spatial temporal and instrumentation variability.

So it's not exactly something that we can compare apples to apples, but each each of those data points are still important to show that ambient lead levels are in compliance with air quality standards.

So we'll go on to the couple more questions for you, Amy from Vice Chair Maple and Director Cerna.

Apologies.

No problem so on the previous slide.

Um the comparable airports were Van Eyes and Hill Reed Hillview, I think it is.

Yes.

Um how do those compare in size or in terms of flights or number of you know personal aircraft?

Like are these actual comparable airports is the question.

Uh so Reed Hillview, then this is a airport in San Jose in Santa Clara County, and it you can see the fuel usage uh numbers.

Um it is fairly equivalent uh in size to SAC executive.

Van IS was put there to show the upper end, uh so to you know bracket that this is a very busy airport, uh, much busier than SAC executive.

Okay, great.

That's really helpful.

Um, and and that's it for now.

I'll have some more later.

Great.

Director Salah.

Yes, thank you.

Um so on this map, I'm really curious.

Um is there any uh known possibility that the lead uh challenge the lead problem that the city of Sacramento has been grappling with for years now relative to believe it's an old gun range that is on the uh airport's immediate uh north boundary, and it's just by chance that you have a lead problem next to the airport that has nothing to do with uh AV gas.

But is it is it is there any uh consideration for making sure that when we monitor for lead airborne, I assume airborne lead contaminants or lead contaminants that have settled out of uh the air column that it's not it's separate from what has been uh collected or analyzed relative to the approximate gun range.

I would like to go ahead and ask uh my colleague uh Janice Lam Snyder to see if she can answer your question a little bit more elegantly.

Okay.

Hi, Director.

Uh Director uh Janice Lamp Snyder uh with the monitoring planning and rules division.

That's a really good question.

I mean, in general, when we do uh air monitoring, we're monitoring for everything that is in ambient air.

And there would have to be additional analysis uh to be done to be able to tell whether or not it's you know from soil or from you know different aviation gas aviation gas.

So is the analysis uh does it does it look at the health consequence near the airport or simply what's the the constituents in the air column?

It is just going to be looking at the constituents.

It won't be to any uh health.

Because I believe there was previous analysis that did explore, did analyze uh the health consequence of lead exposure that was associated with the gun range, and that extended out you know from and around the gun range, which is actually right in the approach zone for the airport.

So that's why I'm asking uh the questions here.

Vice Chair Maple has some information regarding this, um, if I may, and this is before my time, but um I certainly have had some similar questions related to the gun range um and the communities I represent.

And so it's my understanding that the um remediation of the gun range happened several years ago.

Um and so my my understanding of that is that it's meant to clean the entirety of the area.

Um and so I can get more information from our staff, uh, but I I I would it would be my understanding that you wouldn't necessarily see what was cleaned up several years ago impacting um what we're seeing in the air now.

It wasn't that long ago.

Yeah, I think it was uh at least five years ago.

Thank you.

And to add a little bit more, I I think the last remaining, and we can we can always confirm that uh Director Maple with you, um, but I believe that the the gun range building itself still needed to go through some remediation.

The the soil remediation, I believe you are correct, um did occur, and soil samplers, soil samples were taken within neighborhoods surrounding the gun range.

But you're absolutely right, Director Cerna, that it is a uh confusing um to have two sources of potential um lead contamination.

Uh lead contamination or health um threats associated with lead contamination, it needs to be as isolated as possible for the source that we're talking about, which is not the gun range, which is AVGas.

Thanks.

Before we move on, I have Director Uh Mary Jane Lopez on the line.

With her hand raised.

Go ahead, Director Lopez Taff.

Yes, thank you so much.

I just had a few questions backing up just a little bit on slide 62, which is entitled uh history of lead and aviation fuel.

Um have there been any studies since um the 1980 endpoint that you have on this chart studying both the blood lead uh the both sides of this chart.

So the blood lead levels and the lead used in gasoline.

Have any of those studies continued past this time frame presented?

Thank you for the question, Director.

It is a good question that I will have to uh get back to you on um to see what the status of any further testing.

I I would imagine that there have been uh many other um tests performed, but I just don't have that data in front of me.

Yeah, I I think similar in the vein of um what Director Cerna was mentioning, you know, data is helpful but not helpful if it's incomplete, and we don't have um health impact also noted here because when we I believe when we look to restrict a particular industry or industries of um their business operations, we absolutely need to justify that with health impacts and the data to support that.

So looking at now slide 64.

Um so this is highlighting the SAC executive airport and the lead emissions.

So that's actual emissions but not ambient testing.

Am I correct in assuming that?

Because now the measure is different, tons per year versus uh micrograms per cubic meter.

Yes, you're you are correct, uh director, that this is a the way this was calculated was looking at the fuel usage, and then there is a known uh number of grams in each gallon of leaded fuel, and so that's uh just a multiplication, um, and that's how you arrive at the tons per year estimate.

And it is different from monitoring.

Yes, and so that's why I'm I'm when we look at these graphs.

I just want to overtly point out that we're looking at different purposes for the graphs and different emissions for the graphs, because I um I'm looking at the slides distributed in the agenda, and you I believe your next slide will talk about ambient um monitoring efforts, and I do have a comment for that when you get there.

Thank you.

Yes.

And if I may just make one um one other comment that the endangerment finding that um was um reached in 2023 by the EPA uh would have been looking at the impact.

The endangerment finding was specific to small um abgas for small aircraft, and the way that they would have made that endangerment finding was to review data associated with the um potential health impacts from that sector.

And I'll go on to the next slide, Selena.

Okay, so this um slide is a summary slide of a lot of monitoring efforts that have been performed.

Uh the the top two rows of of this data are from Del Paso Manor monitoring station.

And uh you can see that there was a a wide number of years that samples were collected uh to demonstrate uh compliance with the lead standard at the federal level, which is uh the 0.15 micrograms per cubic meter.

Every single row here does show that uh that it these numbers are showing uh ambient levels well below you can see magnitude um orders of magnitude lower than the standard.

The middle row, the community air protection program monitoring that was performed uh under our community air monitoring um uh plan um showed that as well.

Um all those samples collected from um that time period were in the point zero zero four or less range.

United Latinos also did a monitoring study, as I mentioned earlier, and that was closer um Mangum Park area and um their studies as well reached that uh or showed uh that lead levels were well below the standards.

Next slide, please.

Director Lopez Taff, did you have a question on this slide?

Um not particularly a question, but um, you know, if we're going to look at consistency, I I would consider our own standards for monitoring the more reliable pieces and considering the length of date, you know.

So if we're to consider you know the um viability of the data, I think our own data looks quite promising here.

Thank you.

Thank you for your comments, Director.

Next slide, please.

In the future, additional monitoring will um still be performed by the district using our portable air monitoring lab.

And uh you did hear about this uh in last month's presentation.

This portable lab, it was located at Fern Bacon Middle School previously for our uh community air monitoring program, and it uh did provide data for that uh phase three of that monitoring effort.

Um while that's wrapped up, our AB617 steering committee and our public members did have a good discussion about where best to relocate that lab, and they were interested in monitoring for traffic in and around uh neighborhoods uh and the airport emissions, and uh that's why uh this site was um chosen uh to have the portable lab.

And this will take place over the course of a year and we'll provide it an additional assessment of ambient lead levels uh to add to the already collected data set.

Director Sarna.

Thank you.

So I'm sorry.

Who who and how is this location determined?

So we did take input from our community members as to where they would like to have additional monitoring within their community boundaries.

Okay, I'm I'm just saying this is right on top of the gun range.

And it was a um so the we looked at a couple of locations.

So the community did um have concerns about traffic uh near the city corp yard.

Um and then they also the airport is is um top of mind.

And so in working with the city on locations, this ended up being the location that would provide the electric power and provide everything that was needed to set that lab up.

So scientifically, there's no conflict that this is right on top of uh either previously contaminated or even slightly still contaminated uh lead health risk area no that there this site was selected and and um that area was was known and the selection was still made, and I will ask our directory.

You got a ton of you got miles of a perimeter.

And I I could understand if you want to put the monitoring somewhere in the approach departure area because of what was in your previous slide about uh the air contamination being um most pronounced uh during uh takeoff landing and taxing um uh for either runway.

Uh I think do we Brie, do we only just have the one active or is there two active?

There's two active, there's three runways.

Okay, very good.

Thank you.

Um so I can understand if you if the monitoring was done somewhere along kind of the extension of the of the a part uh depart and um takeoff areas, but to pick out of all that perimeter the one area where there's been a known historical lead contamination problem doesn't seem um it seems counterintuitive to me to to then be able to depend on the data and be able to say with a straight face it has nothing to do with uh other um lead contamination sources.

So that's just me.

I'll ask our uh director um Janice Lam Snyder again if she would like to make any additional comments about the site selection.

Yes.

So there were actually five locations that the steering committee had suggested to us to uh investigate, and one of them as we state here is the city copiard.

Um when we approached the city copiard, uh they had offered um that you know they were not able to accommodate us at that location, but nearby they were able to um have our portable laboratory in that area.

Uh to your point, Director Cerna, about um the con potential conflict of uh having a source that is soil borne.

I think there are ways for us to delineate that information from uh either you know either like whether or not you know the the meteorological conditions are uh conducive of kicking up dust from the soil, as well as uh potential like aircraft patterns.

Um so your point is taken, um, but I think there are ways to help delineate that through the analysis.

I hope so.

Yeah.

Yeah.

All right, Selena, next slide, please.

All right.

So as I mentioned, part of the impetus for reviewing and developing the white paper on lead and abgas uh was because the district did become aware of other airports that had made efforts to switch to unleaded fuel options and to develop strategies to phase out leaded fuel prior to any other regulatory requirements.

Part of that curiosity was whether any of these early actions could potentially be enacted here locally, and that's what we've been trying exploring with the airport.

And you'll you'll see a summary of several of these airports here on this slide, um, most in California, one in Colorado that have been making various efforts to make unleaded AV gas options available.

Um the actions taken, in particular the first one at Reed Hillview Airport and San Martin Airports in Santa Clara County was an outright ban of leaded fuel at their general aviation facilities.

This did uh create uh conflict for pilots and and um aircraft operators that did put in a formal complaint to the FAA, and the FAA did come back to say that um there are federal grant assurances that must be upheld and that they would not allow airports to completely ban leaded AV gas before the high octane unleaded abgas options are commercially available and safe to use.

Um other airports that you see there, Livermore, um, Santa Monica airports, um, they've looked for other ways to incentivize the use of unleaded fuel and to help um aircraft operators and um pilots acquire that um STC, which is the um that's the safety certificate, um basically the the type certificate that an aircraft needs to receive in order to use an alternative fuel.

So there are efforts to support either payment um in that uh seeking that type certification.

There's also been an incentive to um offset the cost of the use of unleaded fuel because it's not commercially, you know, it the the supply is just not there, it's more expensive.

It's about a dollar or so more per gallon, and so it is um supplying a fuel subsidy for pilots that do that are able to use it to be able to use that more widely.

So those are just a couple of examples of the uh different incentives and different ways that cities and counties can help incentivize the use of unleaded fuel sooner than is required.

Next slide, please.

Okay, and lastly, um challenge is uh we mentioned that uh we have been in conversation with the SAC airport uh team and they they are in chambers, so I do want to acknowledge um Brie and Bailey that are here from the Department of Airports, their their team again, a big thanks to them because they have met with us a couple of times, and one of them was an on-site tour of SAC executives so that we could see on the ground um the fuel tanks, the runways, and just get a better understanding and and answer our questions.

Um obviously we've mentioned a couple of times safety is the top priority from the FAA to all of us in this room.

Um so aircraft, the challenges to implementing unleaded fuel immediately or even in that five-year window, there will be definite challenges to making that um fuel commercially available to make sure that um aircraft can safely use that air um and also I just mentioned the federal grant assurances that are required.

And if those are in place, which they are at SAC executive airport, um, that precludes an airport from not offering leaded fuel until those expire.

So as it stands now, SAC executive will be offering their 100 low-lead fuel option for all of their aircraft.

Next slide, please.

All right, so today has been my opportunity to present the information in the white paper that was presented.

Um I'm glad we had such a robust conversations and and questions at this point.

Um so after today, what we would like to do is continue these discussions more broadly.

Uh, we have our um air protection program and our community that are uh obviously uh uh as you know, very interested in the topic.

So we'd like to engage them.

We'd like to be able to support you and your efforts as as you might be uh Vice Chair Maple in anything that you might be doing with your own constituents, um just supporting with the information that we have um found out and uh also continuing to work with the airport as they do transition.

Whatever that transition timeline does look like, there are um steps that we'd like to be full partners with.

There's also some permitting requirements um that they have for any change when once they do have unleaded fuel.

So we'll we'll stay on top of this topic.

But welcoming any further questions that you might have.

Thank you.

We do have several requests.

Thank you, Madam Chair.

And thank you, Amy, for the presentation and the members who have been more directly involved in this.

This is such an important topic.

I do want to go back a little bit to Director Cerna's comments that have been sitting here thinking about it a little more.

When what is the date of the placement of the portable air monitoring equipment at that location?

Director Lance can correct me, but I believe it's by the end of this year that they're they're intending to begin monitoring at that portable station.

Okay.

I I am a little concerned at the response from staff.

I don't I don't feel like I have enough certainty in terms of being able to delineate the impact from the Avgas and the maybe the soil sources from the prior uh gun range.

I I'd like I wonder if we could get before you place the air monitor out there, can we get a little more information about the certainty that we can have as a board on the delineation between those two sources?

Because I I don't think any of us want to see uh uh a distortion in the data we're gonna receive from the air monitoring.

And uh that's a concern of mine.

That's a legitimate one.

Or an asterisk, right?

Yes, yeah.

Right.

Thank you for your comments.

We'll take that into consideration.

All right, Director Hume.

Uh Director Desmond pretty much uh said what I'd like to say, but I just want to speak to the dynamic of what happened here today.

Director Cerna brought up a legitimate concern, an issue I had no idea about uh coming into this meeting.

In fact, we've spent more time talking about this item than I thought we were going to, which is a good thing.

Um but referring back or defending it as this is the site the committee selected does nothing to address the legitimacy of the data that we're going to be receiving, which I think is a valid concern.

Because if we have to put an asterisk and say, well, it might have been the leftover casings or whatever that's on the site, right?

Like if we want true data that that comes to a conclusion, there should not be um uh you know Achilles heels uh relative to the site selection.

I really appreciate your comments, Director Hume.

Thank you.

Uh we also have Dr.

Ayell on the line that would like to give comment.

Okay.

Yeah, I wanted I want to chime in.

Thank you all for the comments.

Uh look, I I want to I want to give you more certainty.

We are going to look at this uh before we proceed and place the lab at our location for sampling.

The the um the request that we got from the steering committee uh is important and we want to be timely in um in uh honoring that request as as the staff already discussed.

It was actually rather uh uh casual and for practical reasons that the city of Sacramento pointed us in that direction.

But given the good comments that you've raised and given the concerns that have been uh pointed out and and the fact uh to be perfectly frank that this is something that we did not look into very closely.

I want to give the board assurance that we're not going to place a lab because I share your concern.

I don't want any footnotes on any resolves that we take.

So again, I just want to give you assurance.

I'm gonna I'm gonna regroup with the staff.

Uh we're gonna look at this uh a little bit more carefully and and in more detail.

And before we proceed with any placement of the lab, uh we will inform the board again.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Vice Chair Maple.

All right, thank you, Madam Chair, and I think some really good questions.

So I'd appreciate that information too.

I did send also send an email to our our city staff about um the timeline, the process of the building versus the soil remediation and all of that, just so I have that information as well.

Also would love to welcome uh folks out to beautiful Mangan Park if you ever want to come take a tour with me.

It's a beautiful park where there are children running around and a pool and a bunch of other stuff.

Um and it's kind of interesting that it actually is surrounded by this this former gun reach use.

Um a couple questions that I have.

One is what is the approximate size of the portable lab.

I don't think I included a picture.

Um, but it is a small trailer that you can think about and like a U-Haul trailer um size and um director Lance Snyder, you might have the dimensions of it if you want to get the space.

I think I'm visualizing it.

I think it's the same one that was at Fern Bacon.

Yes, okay.

So I've seen that.

That's great to know.

And in terms of power source, is it solar power?

Is it hooked up to something?

It has to be plugged in.

How does that work?

It does need power.

Uh it does need a source of power.

Yes.

And then the last question I have.

So they asked about the timing of when it will be deployed, possibly depending on the qu the answers to the questions that are raised today.

Um, but uh what is the timeline for the monitoring once it's deployed?

How long will it be monitoring?

It will be for one year.

One year.

Okay.

I asked these questions because obviously I know the area well, I represent that community.

So if there's if we come back to find, hey, this is a serious issue in terms of the data that we're going to receive back.

Um just off the top of my head, I can think of a couple of places that are in that nearby vicinity.

Maybe we can work together with city staff to identify an even better location.

Thank you very much.

We appreciate that.

And then um and last comment, kind of unrelated to this and and bigger picture.

One of the things um that I did uh during our um smart mobility climate study mission a few weeks ago uh was we actually visited um the an electric airport training facility in the Netherlands.

And I was very inspired by that that what they're doing in terms of electric aircraft, doing uh workforce training.

Um they're looking to deploy um aircraft that can go, you know, imagine flying from the Sacramento Executive Airport in a nine-person electric plane and and being delivered dropped off at San Francisco for work.

Um and it's completely emission-free.

And so there are a lot of possibilities when I think about the future, not five or ten years from now, but twenty, thirty years from now, about what's possible.

So while we offer I absolutely believe we should be looking into the fuel sources and how to make those even better.

I also think we should be thinking even bigger and I identifying ways that we can maybe try to recruit some of these electric uh plane companies to come in and possibly look at this as a location for for training and beyond.

And so that's really top of mind.

Um and I will say I can't speak for them, but we did have the head of the Caltrans Aeronautic Division um on our study mission, as well as some folks from NASA and and uh the head of the governor's um land use and and climate office, and all of them expressed a lot of interest in exploring that as a possibility, um, not for Sacramento as a whole, not one specific location.

And so I think there might be interest if we can find ways to to bring the right people in the room and to fund it.

So thank you.

All right, thank you all for the good discussion.

This was a receive and file.

We don't have any public comment.

Um Dr.

Ayala, I do have a question for you.

Just in light of um the amount of time that took.

Do you want to do 6.3 the the um community air protection um progress plan right now, or can we put that off till October?

We we can we can put it out to October, including the uh the uh APCO report, Chair.

Okay, perfect.

Thank you.

All right, then we'll go to your your report.

Okay, and um it's a brief report, and I'm actually gonna have Mr.

Lemos Lucing Chambers with you present a couple of slides.

Good morning, board chair and members of the board.

And so um since we since uh director Maple was talking about innovative technology on her trip, um I wanted to uh next slide, please.

I wanted to remind everybody of a celebration we had earlier this month, and this uh celebration was a ribbon cutting ceremony for the first hydrogen locomotive switcher in in operation here in the United States.

And so, in case if you don't know um the differences between locomotives, uh the switcher locomotives are smaller locomotives that are used in rail yards, and they usually move uh boxcars and uh sometimes even use some move some of those rail cars to industrial facilities.

So Sierra Northern Royal Railway replaced the diesel engines in one of their switcher locomotives and replaced them with the hydrogen fuel cell uh technology.

And so this is identical power and capability to existing diesel units with much, much lower noise and zero emissions.

And we received five million dollars from the California Energy Commission uh for this first switcher.

And additionally, we just recently won another 15 million dollars from Cal STA for three more locomotives.

So this will be four locomotives, and in this new grant, we also got some funding for some new track as well.

And so each hydrogen locomotive reduces uh NOx emissions uh by three tons per year, which is similar to removing about two thousand cars here in the region.

And so our chair um gave some comments, and so I want to pass this on to you.

Um Cherokino, see if you want to say anything about that.

Yeah, a very fun event.

And as I mentioned at the event, um next February marks the 170th anniversary of the completion of the Sacramento Valley Railroad, that 22 mile segment that went from Sacramento to Folsom.

So pretty incredible to think that you know, fast forward 170 years, and this is the next um iteration of rail.

So um very cool.

And and uh thank you to uh Director Sagara and uh Dickinson who are able to come today or that day.

Uh Director Cerna wants to comment on this item too.

Thank you, Chair.

Uh so real quick, uh just a technical question.

Uh what is obviously missing, especially when you see the locomotive and profile or the huge diesel, what would otherwise be diesel tanks in the belly of the of the unit.

So where is the where is the hydrogen um stored?

I'm just curious on these switchers.

It's adjacent to the hydrogen fuel cell stack.

So on board as well.

So it's in it's screened with the rest of the mechanicals.

That's correct.

Oh, very cool.

All right.

Thank you.

And thank you, Chair, for for attending and speaking at the event.

Next slide, please.

And so now also many of you have been hearing on our SB 88 efforts, which is a LS uh legislation and bill that was co-sponsored by the Placid County APCD and also by us, the SAC Metora district.

And so this bill is currently sitting with the governor um and has not been signed yet, but the governor has until October 12th to sign this bill.

So if signed, the bill will support our efforts to reduce agricultural burning and find alternative uses for ag and forest biomass.

And so this bill requires the CARC, Calfire, and CEC to take certain steps related to emissions and tracking.

And so the bill received by strong bipartisan support as it passed through both the Senate and the Assembly.

And that concludes the APCL report.

Okay, great.

And I don't see any other requests to speak.

Um so that will take us to Board Ideas Comments and AB 1234 reports.

And Vice Chair Maple, we'll start with you.

I have a report, as I mentioned.

Um I'll be really brief.

Uh, but I it this is the first meeting since I've been back, even though it's been a few weeks.

Um so thank you so much to the Air District for um helping fund this trip.

I was able to, as I mentioned, to go with a delegation from folks from all over California to the Netherlands.

Um we mostly stayed in Amsterdam, but we went to cities all over the Netherlands and we and even in Belgium.

Uh I did give a presentation in Brussels about what we're doing in the Sacramento region.

Um, so all over the region, not just in the city.

Um, and they were very impressed about the work that we're doing on hydrogen, on electrification, uh, mobility hubs, and beyond, um, and in even uh beyond Sacramento region, what we're doing in the Bay Area in terms of autonomous uh vehicles and buses, and and I certainly learned a lot um beyond electric flights and planes.

Um they're also doing a ton on autonomous vehicles, especially for public transport.

So, for example, imagine being able to get on a fully autonomous uh shuttle boat that can get you down the river to your destination instead of having to be sitting in traffic, all kinds of really really brilliant ideas, um, some of which could be um applicable here and uh in our communities and some of which obviously won't.

I will say my my biggest takeaway um from this trip is the number one thing that we need to do, in my view, to advance our climate goals to meet um to the goals of the community and beyond um is to invest in public transit.

It is very clear to me that that is um that the top of their priority list.

Um and as I mentioned, we're we're never gonna be Amsterdam.

Uh that city is about 750 years old and we're a little bit younger.

Um but there are there are a lot of things that we can learn um from some of these communities in the Netherlands, and I think uh investing in robust public transit, especially in urban cores, is gonna get us so much closer to our goals.

Uh and so I'm gonna continue to keep advocating for that, and I hope that we do so um in the air district as well.

So that's my report.

Thank you.

Thank you.

I don't see any other requests to speak here in chambers.

Is anybody online have their hand raised, Alina?

Okay.

No chair.

Um then I would just remind my colleagues that um we have a meeting in October, but then we take November and December off.

So if we could all plan to be here in October, we get our business done and be done for the year.

Uh with that, we will adjourn at 1021.

Thank you very much.